Category: Stage 3

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Internet Surveillance, Panopticism, and Identity

An investigation into the relationship between internet surveillance and panopticism, and how this impacts the identities of internet users.

Case Study – The Golden Shield Project: An in-depth look into China’s strict surveillance system and how it’s panoptic nature impacts Chinese citizens.

Key Theorists

Michel Foucault: Foucault provides a theory of surveillance that explains panopticism and demonstrates how constant surveillance, such as that seen on the internet, can be used as a tool for political power and oppression.

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975)

Zygmunt Bauman: Bauman explains why identity has become such a large issue in late modernity and why an identity is difficult to cultivate in the digital age, relating to internet surveillance and censorship online.

Identity (2004)

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Has lockdown justly taken away our liberty?

The aim of this project is to determine if an approach which is based on trading off negative and positive liberty assess properly whether the lockdown was just or not? Within this project both positive and negative liberty will be measured within each theory. Comparing them whereby the positive sense protects life versus the negative sense in which our liberties are restricted. Both a Utilitarian and Hobbes social contract theory shall lean towards a more epistemologically positive approach to this. Through trying to give objective truths to measure the positive and negative liberties at play. While Badiou and Deleuze’s theory on the event shall offer a sceptical epistemological approach. They give a differing answer from a ‘simplistic’ objective approach. Finally, through Foucault and his biopolitics, we are able to highlight perhaps another force which is in play; power. Where in fact our pursuit for reintroduction of liberty is a paradox which was subsequently never there in the first place.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Risk

An investigation into the nature, history, prominence and management of risk on both a personal and professional level. To answer the question of whether humans or computers are more effective risk managers.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

“The impact that oppression has on the sense of community within the working classes in Tyneside”

This research project sets out to investigate a basis for the possible link between oppression and the sense of community within a working-class society, mainly in Tyneside. Community relations will be observed more specifically within events including the Meadow Well riots, the UK miners’ strike and the aftermath of the closing of shipyards under the power of Margaret Thatcher. Philosophical concepts discussed will be focussed through the political lens of philosophy, with Marx and Rawls. Marx’s work on class oppression and Rawls’ ‘Theory of Justice’ will be explored in relation to the working-class communities in Tyneside. As well as this, identity-focused philosophers, including Taylor, Bauman and Nietzsche are to be discussed and compared with each other, and the object in question.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

An Exploration of Hannah Arendt’s thought on Evil

Object and Territory:

The object I will be examining is banal evil in Hannah Arendt’s book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil.

I will explore banal evil in relation to its relevance to the modern day and the extent of its importance in revolutionising thought on evil

Aim:
How – I am analysing Arendt’s thought on evil to gain an understanding of the characteristics involved in the phenomenon of the banality of evil

Why – I am exploring Arendt’s thought on evil in order to be able to apply it to our contemporary society

Main Thinkers and their works:

Hannah Arendt – Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil and The Origins of Totalitarianism

Susan Neiman – “Banality Reconsidered”

María Lara – Narrating Evil

Richard Bernstein – “Are Arendt’s Reflections on Evil Still Relevant?”

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Death, Beauty and Scandal : A philosophical investigation into the relationship between artists, their work and the consumer

In the contemporary world, which values accountability and justice, can we hold to esteem the art of individuals who have lived morally reprehensible lives?
Artists and their art are one, inseparable entity. The intentional act of creating art is to put an illusory part of oneself into the world, as in line with the philosophy of Nietzsche.
The feral Dionysian characteristic of artists has long been used to excuse morally reprehensible behaviour. However, due to the changing status of artists from remote, struggling characters into celebrities who are part of an elite world, artists are being held to a much higher standard of morals.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Can John Rawls’s theory of justice provide a fair way for the UK to deliberate how the COVID-19 financial support packages should have been distributed in a country that has become overcentralised?

The projects aim is to address the issue of fairness found in the negotiation process between the central government and Greater Manchester local governments. This issue of fairness stemmed from the overcentralised nature of the national government structure. John Rawls’s theory of justice will be used to rethink a fair deliberative position.
The territory of this project is the North-South divide which has been created from the regional inequalities which co-exist in England. Overcentralisation has meant these inequalities are not being addressed and this has created a feeling of unfairness among the North.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues found in the territory. The chosen object for this project demonstrates this as it explores the negotiations between Greater Manchester local governments and central government over COVID-19 financial support. Greater Manchester had minimal influence in these negotiations and believed this to be an unfair deliberation process and outcome.
So this project will address the issue of fairness with John Rawls theory of justice. It will provide a way to rethink the deliberative position to ensure a fair negotiation process and fair social circumstances under which an agreement can be made.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

An investigation into track and trace during the COVID-19 pandemic from a Deleuzian and Guattarian Perspective

The object of study for my stage three project is track and trace. In late 2019 the COVID-19 pandemic was reported as an unusual virus. At the beginning of 2020, the virus, now identified as a novel coronavirus began to spread throughout the entire world. Aside from a lockdown and a vaccine that had to be developed, the UK government invested heavily into a contact tracing system called track and trace. The aim of this system would be to trace who had come into contact with those that had testing positive for the virus so they could isolate and quarantine. Despite being heavily funded, track and trace has only a “marginal impact on transition of the virus”. This essay will be investing track and trace and what affected the way it was organised. By understanding it with reference to Deleuzian and Guattarian thought, it will be considered why track and trace was organised the way it was with a historical approaching using quantitative data and then why this meant track and trace was unsuccessful using an axiological approach. The territory in which the object will be considered is from political responses to catastrophes and centralisation.
In order to make this invested, this essay will attempt to give a broad description of Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of state form thought and nomad form thought and the rhizomatic, and then discussing whether it is relevant into track and trace. State form and nomad form thought is the outlining how the state has power not only explicitly through laws but also by giving itself a rational justification for its framework. By considering the war machine, an entity that exists outside the state, Deleuze and Guattari develop nomad thought in order to offer an alternative to state thought, which is used to critique how the UK state organised track and trace. The rhizome is Deleuze and Guattari’s description metaphysics where the world operates as a rhizome, meaning it is fundamentally decentralised. This will be used to critique the fact track and trace was centralised. Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus is used primary to develop these concepts and understood with reference Eugene Holland’s A Thousand Plateaus: a reader. Moreover, the essay uses information from the BBC and The Guardian to understand how track and trace worked and how successful it was. By considering this information, it will be investigated whether Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts are relevant to track and trace, considering how neoliberal policy affected how track and trace was organised, how sources advocated for centralisation in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally whether Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts are relevant.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

What can the Philosophy of Zizek tell us about desire and ideology in current culture?

What can the Philosophy of Zizek tell us about desire and ideology in current culture?
This essay shows key features of Zizek’s philosophy which show how desire influences ideology and how this can be illustrated through examining current culture.

I have used the examples of the musical Hamilton and The Extinction Rebellion protests.

Hamilton is a beautiful piece of culture to analyse using Zizek’s philosophy because it expresses powerful ideologies through music.

Extinction Rebellion is a wonderful organization that is trying to save the world. Zizek’s philosophy when applied to the reaction to XR is excellent in illustrating the powerful nature of ideology.

Ideology is a powerful and irrational force in the world, and nobody realises they are being duped by it, this is what my essay aims to argue.

Exploring Zizek’s philosophy through these pieces of current culture has given me a much greater understanding of the world around me.

Zizek is clearly an influential philosopher and his philosophy has interested me for a while now and it was a joy to learn about his work. His conception of ideology I believe is groundbreaking, I aimed to show this in my essay and I believe I have succeeded.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

How does Online Surveillance Serve to Assert Power and Reduce Autonomy

I wanted to investigate online surveillance and how it asserts power and reduces autonomy

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Thin, Young, and Beautiful: How Complicit is Capitalism in Eating Disorders in Women

The dramatic increase of cases of eating disorders over the past century means that it is now necessary to explore possible reasons for this rise in instances. In this dissertation, I will discuss how complicit capitalism is in eating disorders in women, as it seems that the increase in cases has coincided with the increasing grip capitalism has on the individual. First, using the work of Karl Marx and Jean Baudrillard I will explore the way that the individual within a capitalist society is made to see their body as an object which must be saleable in order to be useful. Due to the social prestige of a thin body, we see its owner as having more value than the owner of a fat body. Second, I will explore how the impacts of capitalist society on a woman can lead to her developing an eating disorder. Simone de Beauvoir’s theory of the socialisation of the woman shows how a woman is forced to see herself as an object belonging to the male subject. She is left feeling that her body is the only object she has any mastery over and makes it thinner in order to show this mastery. Julia Kristeva’s abjection will be used to show how the woman is forced into ‘choosing’ her status of an object within a capitalist society and that consequently she feels she must be the perfect object of desire. Lastly, I use the work of Massimo Recalcati to explore the direct connections between eating disorders and the capitalist world. Within capitalism we are encouraged to fear the Other, this makes the individual desire to cut them off – which they do through food. Recalcati also suggests that capitalist society makes us see the lack which causes our desire as a void which must be filled, and people with eating disorders do so through food – that being the presence of food or the absence of it. I will explore each of these sections separately before concluding with a synthesis of all of them.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Norway’s Halden prison: an argument for rehabilitation

This project’s aim is to explore Norway’s Halden Prison and look at whether or not its ethos of rehabilitation is a success in being the core function of prisons. The three primary texts that I will be using are Michel Foucault’s (2020) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, John Rawls’ Theory of Justice and Thomas Hobbes’ Social Contract Theory, in his Leviathon. I begin by looking at the historical shift of punishment as retribution (punishment of the body) towards punishment as rehabilitation (the reforming of the soul) (Foucault, 2020, p.7). From here, I move onto the two chapters that consist of the bulk of the project, the first focusing on rehabilitation and discussing the tension between whether it benefits the society or the individual. In the second chapter, I look at Foucault and Davis, who are problematising the idea that people are made into becoming a criminal—their problem is that often, ‘criminals’ are not actually ‘criminals’ and often do not need to be rehabilitated or corrected.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

There must be limits to tolerance to avoid the subjectivism and ‘anything goes’ nature of postmodernism. Discuss

Territory: Society
Object: Religious commitment/belief
Concepts: Liberalism, Pluralism, Tolerance

Today, society is more liberal than ever; everyone has an entitled opinion. Is subjectivity the inevitable result of the postmodern? This question will be answered with a focus on religious commitment, as we know it can lead to conflict. Religion has a different order of commitment than other statements; it is part of your identity. This work considers where the line should be drawn when it comes to clashing views, as we have to find ways to live harmoniously.

I consider the Charlie Hebdo shooting, what went wrong and how people reacted. John Rawls’ ‘Political Liberalism’ will follow, explaining that toleration is necessary for a stable society. Focussing on his overlapping consensus between reasonable individuals. However, it is not universal as not everyone will except putting liberalism at the centre. Gianni Vattimo’s ‘weak thought’ (il pensiero debole) wants a weaker metaphysical understanding. For him, to think correctly is to be tolerant from the beginning.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to know where the boundaries lie. Relativism still proves to be a problem with Vattimo’s argument. Both philosophers have strong ideas, yet neither approach provides a fault-proof solution to the issues that arise in this current pluralistic era.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons in any circumstance ethical?

Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons in any circumstance ethical? Examining the ethical and moral implications surrounding nuclear weaponry.

My intentions within this project are to explore the ethical implications of both nuclear weapon use and nuclear deterrence policy. Through the course of this essay, I examine the scientific explanations of how and why the atomic bombs, both first generation and modern, are so powerful and can cause such devastation. Further on, I examine the philosophical concepts of the Just War doctrine, the concept of “dirty hands” and also the political theories of Machiavelli, applying all three to the concept of nuclear weapons. I also make reference to the success of anti-war movements in the non-proliferation movement, and the impact that various groups had in the dismantlement of vast quantities of nuclear weaponry, and the signing of several treaties.

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2021 Abstracts Stage 3

How can we reverse the effects of climate change? A revised global philosophy or self-preservation? A philosophical investigation into the role plant-based lifestyles can play in altering the climate crisis.

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the extent of which our climate crisis can be aided by plant-based diets. I will assess different opinions on animal sentience and moral philosophy in order to determine how and why a plant-based diet could play a part in combatting the crisis. By Harry Feachen

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Between Emancipation and Control: A critical discussion of social media in postmodern

Between Emancipation and Control: A Critical Discussion of Social Media in Postmodern Society

Is social media the key to emancipation, or the handcuffs prohibiting liberation? This project started from the object of social media and the claim that, as society has become highly mechanised, it is a further perpetuation of control and the very medium, which keeps individual behaviour in accordance with what is deemed socially acceptable. This project aimed to investigate this claim, using the case of Cambridge Analytica, to reach a conclusion to the overriding question: CAN SOCIAL MEDIA EMANCIPATE?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

From Selfie to Surgery: The Impact of Technology on Human Self-Worth

An investigation into the ways that technology is used as a method of creating insecurities with the self, leading to cosmetic surgery and the sustainability of capitalism.

My aim of this investigation is to explore the effects of technological apps such as Snapchat and Instagram on self-esteem and confidence. Also to investigate how far there is a link between beautifying apps and the cosmetic surgery industry, in a 21st century society where the conception of beauty is given great importance.

In this investigation, I conduct a survey to understand the effects of technology. I ask questions regarding frequency of usage, confidence levels after usage and pressure in society surrounding beauty.

Philosophical Concept 1: Adorno and the Culture Industry
Philosophical Concept 2: Freud and ‘Civilisation and its Discontents’

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Data-Mining

What is data-mining?
In the case of Cambridge Analytica, data-mining is extracting data from people’s social media accounts to gather information on them.

What is micro-targeting
Micro-targeting is using data and information gathered on people to identify their interests and beliefs and then use this to try influence them, in this case their political decisions.

Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics company founded in 2014. They manipulated Facebook in order to access millions of people’s personal details and information and used it to influence elections.

Democracy in the age of technology: a philosophical enquiry exploring the effect data-mining and micro-targeting has on a democratic government.
Philosophy used to explain this: Debord’s Society of the Spectacle and Rousseau’s Social Contract.

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

Is the Queen, as portrayed and understood by the Netflix production ‘The Crown’, truly treated as an Other?

The Queen is not truly recognised by us for the work she does, but by the title she holds. Do we treat her as we should treat another human being, or do we treat her as if she is just her title?

The philosophy of Sartre and Levinas will be used as they both put forward a theory of the Other. We have an effect on the others freedom for both philosophers.

For Levinas, it is getting away from Heidegger’s view that we encounter everything with its use value. We have a relationship and a responsibility over the Other.

For Sartre, is the Queen acting in Bad Faith? Rather than recognising herself beyond her duty.

So, does the Queen restrict herself from becoming an Other, or do we restrict the Queen from being treated as an Other truly should be?

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2017 Abstracts Stage 3

The Reality Of ‘Generation Snowflake’ In Relation To The Contemporary Situation Facing Free Speech

Generation Snowflake and The Contemporary Situation

Defined in the Collins English Dictionary – ” the generation of people who became adults in the 2010’s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generation”

How has ‘Generation Snowflake’ come to be?

Foucault’s analysis of the kind of power at work today in Generation Snowflake is the interference and dominance of medicine, a discreet mode of power facilitating the set-up of this transactional reality.

Does Free Speech Exist Today in ‘Generation Snowflake’?

Mill’s Harm Principle – to safeguard liberty and free speech, ” the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others”.